Sunday, July 30, 2006

Back from a great but ridiculously hot two days in London.My cheap hotel room was the hottest place on earth, I almost bought a desk fan just for the second night; and central London wasnt much cooler!

Had a great 2.5 hour discussion on Friday about advertising, blogs and the like with the brilliant Richard Huntingdon, though I worried him when I said that I expected him to be about 10 years older than he was! General discussion points of interest were: Isn't Russell great, isn't the new Coke Zero work rubbish, doesn't all good music have synthesizers?

Later on Friday I joined the legendary Russell and other intelligent people for yet more talk on advertising and other marketing topics. Well worth travelling down from Sheffield for. Though I was a little amused when Russell kept introducing me as the "famous Rob"..!

Apart from the heat and the power cuts, a fantastic trip; I hope to make another set of Coffee events very soon. Normal Service Resumes Shortly.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Good to see Innocent's new ad is a step better than their last one.This new tv ad captures more of their wonderful brand personality (though even caling them a brand seems too business like!), and puts across a good sense of their ethics and responsibility.

Best of all, it does what the previous ad failed to do, and that is capture a little of the great sense of humour/light-heartedness that fills the air whenever you read the label an innocent product.

Yep, this ad feels like an Innocent ad should; and thats a pretty good compliment in my book.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Although Northern Planner beat me to it while I was at work; I felt I had to post about the new ads for Coke Zero.

The "good things with none of the diisadvantages" idea is good if not entirely original; but the execution of it just leaves more questions than answers...

Who thought that the writing didnt need editing?

Who watched this during production and didnt think it sounded bad?

Why did they approve an ad which is pretty close to sounding contrived when they are trying to create an image of exactly the opposite?

Yet another example of a good idea being overdone and spoilt. When will some people realize that understatement can say so much more, so much better. If ever there was a clear style difference between Pepsi and Coke, its here; the style that Pepsi max has seems effortless and genuine; whereas this effort just seems forced and smacks of trying to hard to be something.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

The recent Direct Line insurance ads are really interesting. I know they have been on for a little while, but I felt it was worth adding a post about.

The basic premise is brilliant. Instead of trying to pretend that insurance is great, that every insurer is a nice company there to help you out... they show an honest picture. That people do not like insurers, and that they feel mistreated or ripped off by them; and then demonstrate how Direct Line aren't quite as bad.

Its something that everyone who uses insurance feels at sometime, and it catches it perfectly. Its so refreshingly honest, and that honesty then reflects on the whole company.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The ads for the C4 are fast about to create their second chart hit. With the song from the new ad being played on every radio station that plays dance or chart music.

If they keep this up it could become like Levis, creating hit after hit with each new campaign. Others have had a hit or two (Budweiser, Pepe, Lynx etc), but Levi's have been one of the few to keep doing it. (FLat Eric, Boombastic, Spaceman, etc, etc)

Is this something Euro RSCG (at last check they did Peugeot/Citroen in the UK) have tried to do I wonder, or is it just good luck?

On the radio it reminded instantly of the well loved old nationwide ads; with the constant stream of words. Very very similar in some ways, but thats not necessarily a bad thing.

On watching the tv version above, it is apparent that they have used the old Bob Dylan words on boards idea (as also seen below on the classic Maxell ad). Though to be fair it is done pretty well, and a type of DFS brand imprint is certainly stamped on the ideas.

DFS are certainly taking small steps into better ads, even if they do strongly resemble past ads. But then again, anything without Linda Barker is a big plus.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I went to the D&ad exhibition in Manchester this weekend (riiight before the England game), and how nice it was to be able to see such a thing without having to travel down to London! Was a bit smaller than I expected though.

Some great work, some of my favourites:

"The Power of Press" print ads - Great great copy.

Sony Bravia - Balls - Even better once you see just how insane and manic the real-time dropping of the balls is; and compare it to the chilled vibe of the ad.

Budweiser Men of Genius - 80SPF Suntan lotion wearer - Not really a radical idea, but brilliantly funny and involving.

Nintendogs - I love this game, and its good to see it recognised for it's creative progression.

Carlton Draught - Big Ad - An ad that manages to parody advertising whilst still functioning as a good ad in its own right! Oh and, it features probably the best food/drink tagline of the 20th Century: "Made From Beer".

Sunday, July 02, 2006

I was thinking, most ad lists showcase the "best" or most "creative" ads.What id like to do is show you a few of the ads that inspired me to want to follow and eventually be in advertising.

They aren't necessarily good ads from a creative or effectiveness point of view, but they are ones that made me think, were relevant to me at the time, made me go and try a product, or just made me interested in advertising as a medium.

Maxell - Israelites

This (and the version using Into the Valley) were great ads. They got the message across but were witty and absorbing.

Milton - Lines

I've never seen this since about the age of 4-5. It was for milton sterile fluid, and involved a red line covering the surfaces to imply cleanliness. It creeped me out as a kid, and i've never been able to find it again to disprove it creepiness. If any recalls it in better detail id love to know!

It was probably the first ad I can remember seeing, yet I still understood the message!

Ariston - And on and on

Again, I cannot find this anywhere, sorry. It was from the mid-late 80s, and had lots of moving appliances or house items, and has the song "On and on and Ariston" behind it. This ad was probably not on for long, but I still remembered Ariston as a washing machine brand name for 10 years without EVER seeing an Ariston branded product. Thats some effective recall!

I plan to update this later, but id love to hear what ads inspired you to get involved with advertising...